Meeting Tuesday to help residents with changes to flood maps

Gloucester County:

“Some Gloucester residents may find themselves in a floodplain area for the first time, which may impact whether they will need to purchase flood insurance and, if they already have flood insurance, their annual rates. Gloucester officials will hold an informational public open house from 7-9 p.m. Tuesday at Achilles Elementary School for residents to review the changes and ask questions about the preliminary FEMA flood insurance rate maps.

According to Gloucester’s building official Paul Koll, about 5,000 postcards were mailed earlier this month to all county residents whose property may be at flood risk. He urged those who received the postcards to check their current flood risk on the FEMA updated coastal flood insurance rate maps, which can be found by visiting the county’s website at www.gloucesterva.info.”

 ~Writes Quinton Sheppard of Gazette-Journal

Click here to learn more

Polluted Runoff Report

Chesapeake Bay Foundation

“So just where exactly do stormwater fees go you ask? Try rain gardens, streambeds, ponds, and other job-creating projects that not only improve our water quality, but beautify our communities, too! Learn more in the Chesapeake Bay Foundation’s special investigative report on polluted runoff”

Click here for the report

Stomwater Act could devastate growth across the Northern Neck

Northern Neck

“Tiny droplets of rain could soon cost area residents big money if state legislation comes to pass.

Nearly 10 years in the making, the New Virginia Stormwater Pollution Prevention Program (SWPP) has officials concerned, citing dire consequences to growth in rural communities if the act passes through and becomes commonwealth law.

According to new SWPP regulations, in accordance with the Chesapeake Bay Protection Act program, any land disturbance of more than 2,500 square feet will incur fees, planning and annual dues that could put an abrupt halt to new construction, renovations, upgrades and home improvements statewide.

As of July 2014, in the Commonwealth’s attempt to improve the quality of local rivers, bays and their tributaries, any party–from a multi-conglomerate building an office park in Fredericksburg to a homeowner in Warsaw looking to put in a driveway–will be subject to fees that will require engineer contracts, stormwater drainage field construction and annual dues with inspections and the costs they involve, all on the taxpayers dime.”

~Writes the Northern Neck News

Click here to learn more

Planning Commission forges ahead despite lack of new floodplain maps

Colonial Beach

“A public hearing was also conducted regarding changes that must be implemented to the floodplain overlay district. Changes involve additional regulations to any new construction within the floodplain areas.

The need for these changes came to light in response to FEMA (Federal Emergency Management Agency) updating the current floodplain maps (also called Flood Insurance Rate Maps) in Westmoreland County and Colonial Beach… Not only do town officials anticipate a larger floodplain area, but areas with a 500-year flood risk are expected to be raised to a higher risk of 100-year or less flood risk, due to more frequent occurrences of flooding.” 

~Writes The Journal

Click here to learn more

Bay group: Stormwater runoff must be reduced

Chesapeake Bay

“Localities and lawmakers must do more to keep polluted runoff from fouling Virginia’s rivers and the Chesapeake Bay. That’s the gist of a report released Monday by the Chesapeake Bay Foundation, which calls for tens of millions of dollars more from state legislators to help pay for stormwater runoff reductions. ‘This is clearly a problem that demands local solutions for local benefits. It’s time for all of us to reduce polluted runoff,’ CBF President Will Baker said Monday in a conference call with reporters.”

~Writes Rusty Dennen of the Free Lance–Star

Click here to learn more

Maintenance of bridge-tunnel an expensive proposition

Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel

“Maintaining the 17.6-mile Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel, which connects the Eastern Shore of Virginia to Hampton Roads, is a tall order. Much of the maintenance is never seen by those who annual pay $45 million in tolls to cross it. The bridge’s ventilation system, scheduled for a two-year $7.8 million overhaul expected to begin in late March, is the facility’s second-most expensive capital project this year, yet to occupants of the 3.5 million vehicles that cross the facility annually, it will be invisible. ‘The public will not see any component of that work as they cross the bridge,’ said Chesapeake Bay Bridge and Tunnel District Executive Director Jeff Holland. That holds true with much of the work that extends the life of the facility.

The bridge-tunnel exists in an unforgiving marine environment. Besides the daily pummeling by thousands of cars and trucks, it withstands hurricane-force winds, powerful waves and relentless currents. Yet most travelers rarely consider maintenance and preservation, except when those activities cause them delay. In 2013, the district spent about $14 million to preserve and maintain the bridge-tunnel, which itself is valued at about $424 million.”

~Writes Connie Morrison of Delmarva Now

Click here to learn more

Poplar Island Restoration Project

Chesapeake Bay

“In the early 1990s, an effort was initiated by the Port of Baltimore, the Army Corps of Engineers and the Maryland Environmental Service to use material dredged from shipping channels of the upper Bay to rebuild Poplar Island near Talbot County, MD. At four miles long, the restored 1140 acre site approximates the 1847 outline of Poplar Island, which was renowned for its waterfowl, terrapins, fish and crabs. Construction began in 1998 and is expected to continue until 2020. When complete, the island will be equally divided between tidal marsh and upland, and will provide habitat for a variety of migratory and resident wildlife.”

~Center for Environmental Science: University of Maryland

Click here to learn more

The Last House on Holland Island

Chesapeake Bay

“Built in 1888, this Victorian home from a different era has braved the elements and fought shoreline erosion on Holland Island in Chesapeake Bay for well over a century. Despite former resident and owner Stephen White’s best efforts to save the house and protect the island, the waters would overcome both and erase them from the map.

So what happened to Holland Island, and why did one man try to save it?”

~Writes Sometimes Interesting

Click here to read about Holland Island

Ocean View residents to make dune case to Norfolk

City of Norfolk

“Ocean View residents want to lower sand dunes that they say are taking over their property, but city officials are worried such an alteration could affect Norfolk's ability to get federal funding for flood mitigation.

Seventeen property owners in the Cottage Line area will argue their case before the city's Wetlands Board this afternoon. The residents are seeking permission to lower the dunes to about 10-1/2 feet. In one area, the dunes reach 26 feet.

These Cottage Line residents say the sand dunes near their homes have reached unreasonable heights and are blocking their views. Because the sand is so plentiful, the residents say, the removed portions of the dunes could be redistributed where sand is needed in Ocean View. But environmentalists have expressed opposition, and some city officials have said they are concerned about the requests.”

~Writes Jillian Nolin of the Virginia Pilot

Click here to learn more

Gloucester supervisors seek delay of new environmental regulations

Gloucester County

“In one of its first acts of 2014, the Board of Supervisors pushed back, albeit ever so diplomatically. With new members Mike Winebarger, Phil Bazzani and John Meyer aboard, the board voted unanimously to direct County Administrator Brenda Garton draft a letter to state legislators asking to delay by a year the implementation of a state-mandated storm water management program that critics say will prove costly to home builders, homeowners, businesses and taxpayers.

The storm water management program is billed as protecting Chesapeake Bay through the development and implementation of corralling storm water to ensure sediment, nutrients and pollutants don't wash into the bay and its tributaries. Counties are supposed to enact the new regulations by July 1.

The program is anticipated to cost Gloucester County $126,000 a year for a six-year period beginning in 2014. The program comes with added ordinances and requirements — and for applicants higher fees for permits and increased costs for engineering and construction — to install infrastructure to ensure storm water doesn't overwhelm local tributaries.”

~Writes Matt Sabo of the Daily Press

Click here to learn more

Clock's Ticking on Boat Club Negotiations

City of Alexandria

“After initially keeping quiet on the status of negotiations for the Old Dominion Boat Club’s waterfront parking lot, city officials have lifted — ever so slightly — the veil of silence.

A city spokesman has confirmed that talks for the coveted shoreline parcel are underway. After years of on-again, off-again negotiations, Mayor Bill Euille made it clear in the fall that City Hall would use eminent domain to secure the land if an agreement remained elusive much longer.

Following a lengthy November public hearing on the topic, city councilors opted to extend talks for a further 90 days, with the option of eminent domain still on the table if negotiations break down again. Officials want to turn the parking lot into a waterfront plaza and use nearby club property for flood-mitigation efforts.”
~Writes Derrick Perkins of the Alexandria Times

Click here to learn more